Category: sweets

Chocolate Cherry Rum Cake

Yummy, rummy and chocolatey.  What could be better?  The dried sour cherries are soaked in rum, plus there’s chocolate chips for the extra hit that you’re craving.

This one makes half a recipe, one 9-inch round pan.  It’s from David Lebovitz’s cookbook Ready for Dessert.

What you need:

3/4 cup dried sour cherries, chopped

4 tablespoons of light rum

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1 egg yolk, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt

1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped and toasted

2/3 cup chocolate chips

for the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

2-3 tablespoons rum

What you do:

1.  Bring the sour cherries and 4 tablespoons of rum to a boil in a small pot.  Set them aside with a lid on for about an hour.

2.  Butter a 9-inch round square pan and dust it with flour.  Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.  Preheat the oven to 350F.

3.  Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4.  Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and yolk and vanilla and beat in.

5.  Stir in half the flour mixture, then stir in the buttermilk or yogurt.  Add the rest of the flour mixture.

6.  Stir in the nuts, chocolate chips and cherries.

7.  Pour the batter into the pan.  Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  It might have a little bit of the chocolate chip on it, so don’t mistake that for not being done.

8.  Let the cake cool for 15 minutes, then poke the cake all over with a toothpick and drizzle with about 2 tablespoons of rum.

9.  Let the cake cool for about another 1/2 hour, then run a knife around the edge of the pan and remove it from the pan to cool.  Peel off the parchment paper.

10.  To make the glaze, mix the powdered sugar and the remaining rum.  Spoon it over the cake and let it run down the sides.

11.  The cake should last about 5 days, but if you’re going to keep it that long it’s best to glaze it shortly before serving.

Thank you Corey for editing!

Lemon Cherry Poppy Seed Muffins

Oops, I think I’m getting the keyboard sticky. . . I just baked these, and they’re so good that I’m typing while I eat.  To be fair, they’re more of a mini cake than muffin – I think of a muffin of something sort of healthy, and I can’t really think of any health benefits for these except the sheer joy of eating them.  And joy is pretty good medicine, don’t you think?

I’ve been wanting to make a lemon cherry poppy seed muffin for a while, but I haven’t found a recipe I like.  I took this one from the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog mainly because it had buttermilk in the recipe, which I think is the reason these turned out so light and cakey.  The original recipe is blueberry lemon, so I just exchanged the blueberries for dried cherries and poppy seeds.  I also made the glaze out of white sugar instead of the icing sugar the recipe called for, because I find glazes made of icing sugar have a bit of a tinny taste to them.

This recipe makes 1 dozen, but feels free to double it if you need more.

What you need:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1 & 1/4 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 & 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped (sour cherries if you have them!)

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

for the glaze:

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon lemon zest

What you do:

1.  Place paper liners in a 12 cup muffin tin.  Preheat the oven to 375 F.

2.  Beat the butter until light and fluffy, then add the sugar and beat again.

3.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the lemon zest and juice, and the vanilla.

4.  For the next part make sure you beat only as much as necessary to incorporate the ingredients: Beat in 1/2 cup of the flour, then 1/4 cup of the buttermilk.  Add 1/2 more cup of flour, then 1/4 cup more buttermilk.

5.  Mix the remaining 1/2 cup of flour with the baking power, baking soda, poppy seeds and salt.  Hand mix this into the batter until just barely mixed in, then add the cherries and just fold them in.

6.  Spoon into the lined muffin tins.

7.  Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  They should have a golden brown hue.

8.  While the muffins are baking, put the glaze ingredients in a pot and heat enough for them to melt together.

9.  When the muffins are baked, place them on a rack to cool and glaze them right away.

I recommend eating them while they are still warm, but I’m sure they’ll be almost as good when they’ve cooled.

 

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

 

I was honoured to be the person who got to bake the cake for Oma’s 100th birthday party.  I believe a birthday cake should be chocolate, so that’s what I made, and I wanted a fantastic buttery icing to go on it, so here it is.  Buttery and chocolatey – who could ask for anything more!

 

This recipe is from Elinor Klivans’ Chocolate Cakes: 50 Great Cakes for Every Occassion.  I omitted 1 teaspoon of coffee granules, which would be added to the whipping cream until the coffee granules dissolve.

 

What you need:

 

3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

 

4 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

 

1/3 cup whipping cream, at room temperature

 

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

 

2 & 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted

 

1/8 teaspoon salt

 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

What you do:

1. Place the chocolate in the top of a double boiler or a bowl on top of a pot of hot water to melt the chocolate.  Let this cool slightly before mixing in.

2.  In a large bowl beat the butter until creamy, then add the icing sugar and slat and beat again until creamy.  I found this easier to accomplish by adding a little of the cream.

3.  Beat in the chocolate, cream and vanilla, then continue beating until the icing begins to lighten in colour.

4.  Use the icing right away.  There’s lots of it for a two-layer cake, so don’t worry about slathering lots between the layers.

I like to serve it cold so the icing is a bit hard, but do as you wish!

Mom’s Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Truffles

For Christmas I received a huge bag of chocolate truffles – so yummy, but even after sharing, way too many to eat.  So I pulled out Mom’s old faithful chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe.  Growing up we didn’t have many sweets, but often we were lucky enough to get some of these.  Mom’s original recipe called for margarine, but I’ve used butter, which I’m sure she would also do nowadays.  These turn out crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside – the perfect oatmeal cookie, if you ask me. . . and my siblings, and all the neighbourhood kids from way back when.  Back then I thought it was unfair that the other kids always had Ding-dongs and Twinkies, but of course I now realize that I was the lucky one, to get home-baked cookies!

What you need:

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 & 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 & 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

3/4 cup chopped chocolate truffles (or the old-school traditional, chocolate chips)

What you do:

1.  Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg until fluffy, then beat in the vanilla.

2.  Combine the flour, baking soda and salt and mix into the batter.

3.  Stir in the oats and nuts. (add chocolate chips now if you are using them)

4.  Drop be teaspoonfuls onto a baking sheet.  Place a few pieces of truffle on top of each cookie.

5.  Bake at 350F for 12 minutes.

These keep well in an airtight container for a few days, or you can freeze them.  The recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies, and doubles easily if you need a bigger batch.

Eggnog Snickerdoodles

Having never tried snickerdoodles before, I was drawn to this particular recipe by the idea that they might taste eggnoggy.  It’s the nutmeg in the sugar coating and the addition of rum that gives them the eggnog flavour – there’s actually no eggnog in them.  They are easy to make, and you can vary the baking time depending on if you like them crispy or tender.  These aren’t a fancy cookie, but if you want something sweet and simple, then this one might be for you.

I got the recipe from A Whisk and a Spoon.  The original recipe called for extracts of rum and brandy, but I just used a little more of the real thing in my recipe.

What you need:

2 & 1/4 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 & 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup butter, softened

2 teaspoons rum

2 large eggs

For the sugar coating:

1 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/4 cup sugar

What you do:

1.  Preheat the oven to 400F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.  Cream the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs and beat well, then add the rum.

3.  Whisk the dry ingredients together in another bowl, then add them gradually to the butter mixture.

4.  Stir the nutmeg into the sugar in a small bowl.

5.  Scoop the dough with a teaspoon, then form into a ball by rolling between the palms of your hands.  Roll each ball in the sugar and place them on the pan, leaving a good amount of space between them so they don’t melt into each other as they bake.

6.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on how crispy you like them.  I did 8 minutes, and they were fabulous the first day.  After that they got a little crunchy, so I would try 7 minutes next time.  Place the baked cookies on a wire rack to cool.  But definitely try one while they are still warm!

Mom’s Creamy Chocolate Fudge

This creamy fudge is one of the recipes my mom made at Christmas every year when we were growing up.  It’s a crowd pleaser and it’s really easy to whip up a big pan of it.   And to me it tastes like Christmas!

What you need:

3 cups sugar

3/4 cup butter

2/3 cup evaporated milk

350 grams (12oz) semisweet chocolate chips

1 7 0z jar marshmallow cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

(you could also add a cup of chopped nuts)

What you do:

1.  Coat a 9×13 inch pan with butter.

2.  Place the sugar, butter and evaporated milk in a large saucepan.  Bring to a rolling boil, then cook for 5 minutes on medium heat, stirring.

3.  Remove the pot from the stove and stir in the chocolate chips, marshmallow and vanilla.  Pour it into the pan and let it cool.

The fudge will not be too hard to cut, but it cuts more neatly if you heat up your knife in hot water between each cut.

Chocolate Cocoa Nib and Pecan Biscotti

 

 

Desiring something a little more chocolatey I reworked my tried and true biscotti recipe to make these – they’re not too sweet, and they satisfy the cravings for chocolate.  If you’d rather not mess around with the dipping chocolate you could just add some semi-sweet chocolate chips into the batter instead.

What you need:

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups white flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1  1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup pecan pieces

2 tablespoons cocoa nibs

(3/4 cup semisweet chocolate optional)

For the chocolate coating:

3 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

What to do:

1. Cream the butter, then add sugar, then eggs one at a time and beat until fluffy.  Beat in vanilla and almond extracts.

4. Combine dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until just incorporated.  Add the nuts and cocoa nibs and stir until just combined.

5. Divide the dough into two pieces.  With floured hands form into two logs on a baking sheet.  Bake at 325F for 25-30 minutes.

6. Slice the baked rolls diagonally and place on a baking sheet.  Lower the oven to 300F and bake for 10-15 minutes, until slighty browned.  Turn over and bake for another 10-15, until that side is also slightly browned.

7. Place on cooling racks to cool before you dip them.

8.  Using a double boiler, or just a bowl over a pot of water, bring the water to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer.  Place 2oz of the chocolate in the top of the double boiler, and stir from time to time until it melts completely.

9.  Take the chocolate off the heat and add the rest of the chocolate, stirring until it melts completely.  Return to the heat and stir until it is very liquidy again.  I use this method to temper the chocolate without a candy thermometer – tempering makes the chocolate firm when it cools, and gives it a shiny finish.

10.  Dip each biscotti into the chocolate and let it sit until the chocolate hardens.

Store the biscotti in an airtight container.  They last quite a while – well, they would last quite a while if people didn’t eat them all up!

Key Lime Cake

A tangy glaze and a slightly crisp crust on this new recipe are what makes me think I’ll definitely make it again.  Plus everyone else who ate it with afternoon tea took a piece home without being forced – a sure sign of a great cake!  It’s not a fancy cake, but for tea or coffee or a casual dessert cake it works great.

The recipe comes from All Cakes Considered by Melissa Gray, from which I have gotten many amazing recipes over the last few years.

I had no key limes, so I used regular ones; lemons would work great too.

What you need:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 & 3/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon lime juice

zest of 1 lime

For the glaze:

1/2 cup fresh-squeezed lime juice (about 2 regular limes)

1 cup icing sugar

What you do:

1.  Prepare an 8-inch square or round pan by cutting a piece of parchment paper to fit into the bottom.

2.  Preheat the oven to 350F.

3.  Cream the butter, then gradually beat in the sugar.  One by one, beat in the eggs.

4.  Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk together.

5.  Add half of the dry ingredients, then half the cream.  Repeat with the flour and cream, then beat for about 2 minutes.

6.  Add the lime juice and zest, and beat for about 2 more minutes.

7.  Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 20 minutes.  Cover the cake with foil to avoid too much browning, and bake for 20 more minutes.  Insert a toothpick to see of the cake is done – I needed about 5 more minutes for mine.

8.  Let the cake sit in the pan to cool for about 10 minutes.  Then run a knife around the edge and invert the cake onto a cooling rack.  Invert one more time onto another rack so it is right-side-up.

9.  Combine the icing sugar and lime juice.  Poke holes in the cake with a toothpick or skewer.  Place the cooling rack on top of a plate to catch the drippings, and drizzle the glaze on top.  Use the glaze that drips onto the plate as well, as more will absorb if you pour it on again.

10.  Allow the cake to cool (I ate it slightly warm and it was so good).  You can sprinkle a little icing sugar on top so it’s pretty when you serve it, if you’ve had time to let it cool.  Enjoy!

Tiger Butter

It’s so easy to make your own chocolates, and if you like peanut butter, then you might like this one – white chocolate and peanut butter drizzled with dark chocolate on top – Yum!  I love the tiger butter they sell at Purdy’s, so I made up this recipe to imitate theirs.  I haven’t done a side-by-side taste test, but from what I remember, this is pretty close.  I don’t usually measure the ingredients, so feel free to alter the ingredients as you see fit.  Just don’t add too much peanut butter or it will end up being too soft.

What you need:

1 cup white chocolate

1/4 cup dark chocolate

1 tablespoon peanut butter

What you do:

1.  Use a double boiler, or if you don’t have one, put a bowl on top of a pot containing a little water.  Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat to minimum.  You’ll need two of these set-ups, one for the white and one for the dark chocolate (or you could heat the dark chocolate in the microwave… although the only time I’ve done this I accidentally burned it).

2.  Put the white chocolate in the top of one double boiler, the dark chocolate in the other.  Allow them to melt, making sure that no water touches the chocolate.  If that happens, the chocolate will seize up.

3.  Stir the peanut butter into the white chocolate.

3.  Line a pan with some parchment paper or plastic wrap.  Pour the white chocolate into the pan, spreading it around a little.

4.  Drizzle the dark chocolate on top in stripes.  Pull a knife through the stripes so they form a pattern.

Let it cool, then cut into squares or just break it up.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

I read a lot of recipes claiming to be the best before trying this one.  A few recipes involved refrigerating the dough for a day before baking, claiming this is the magic that will give you the best cookies.  I think they’re great, but then how can you go too wrong with chocolate and butter?

I go the recipe from words to eat by.

What you need:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1/2 cup white sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 large egg

1 & 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate)

What you do:

1.  Cream the butter and sugars for several minutes, until creamy.  Add the vanilla and egg and beat briefly.

2.  Combine the flour, baking soda and salt and stir them in or mix on low.  Add the chocolate chips.

3.  To refrigerate the dough you have two options: roll it in plastic wrap like I did, then cut the log into disks when you’re ready to bake.  Or. . . you could refrigerate the dough in the bowl, then use a scooper to form the cookies.

4.  Line your baking trays with parchment, then place the cookie dough on the paper, leaving some room between them.

5.  Bake for 11-13 minutes at 350F, removing from the oven when they still look almost under-baked.  Pull the whole parchment paper, with cookies on top, onto your cooling racks so the cookies don’t sag between the spaces.

By the way, you don’t have to wait until they are cooled before you start eating them!